Ruben Cespedes
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Role & Scope
I owned the end-to-end design of the Workload Analysis and Simulation experience, from early concept through final execution. This included UX strategy, interaction design, and visual design, working closely with product management and engineering throughout the process.
Context & Problem
Enterprise users needed to evaluate system workloads and simulate changes before taking action in production. Existing workflows relied heavily on manual analysis, external tools, or deep system knowledge, making it difficult to interpret results with confidence.
The challenge was to design an experience that made complex system data understandable and actionable without oversimplifying or removing critical detail.
Constraints
This work came with real limitations:
Highly complex and interdependent data sets
Back-end models that dictated what could and couldn’t be simulated
Performance considerations when working with large volumes of data
A diverse user base with varying levels of technical expertise
The need to integrate seamlessly into an existing enterprise platform
Research
We ran in-depth research and iterative UX reviews with 14 users through one-hour moderated sessions to understand real needs, expectations, and pain points.
I partnered closely with the UX researcher to stay aligned with both user needs and business goals throughout the process. We worked together on prototypes, low-fidelity designs, user flows, and card sorting activities to test structure, language, and hierarchy early. Feedback from these sessions shaped design decisions, reduced friction, and improved clarity, usability, and overall task flow across the interface.
Key Findings
User Flows
Based on our findings, we developed three key user flows to address various scenarios in the "Storage Workload and Resources Utilization Planner." Each user flow was meticulously crafted to empower storage administrators with proactive tools for effective resource and workload management.
Flow #1 - Add Resources
Enable administrators to simulate the addition of new workloads and visualize their potential impact on system resources.
Flow #2 - Change Workloads
Equip users with the ability to modify existing workloads and assess the outcomes of various adjustments like migration or scaling.
Flow #3 - Rebalance Workflows
Allow administrators to optimize workload distribution across multiple systems to enhance performance and efficiency.
Approach
I started by aligning with product and engineering to deeply understand how workloads were modeled, what inputs were available, and how outputs were generated. From there, I focused on identifying the core user goals: analyzing current workloads, comparing scenarios, and simulating potential changes safely.
I explored multiple interaction models for presenting dense data, testing ways to surface insights without overwhelming users. Throughout the process, I iterated closely with engineering to ensure the designs reflected technical reality and could scale within the platform.
Final Designs
Solution
Reducing cognitive load through structure
Instead of presenting all data at once, the experience uses progressive disclosure. High-level summaries provide orientation first, with deeper detail revealed only when needed.Simulation flows grounded in real decisions
Simulation steps were designed to mirror how users think about change in the real world, helping them understand cause and effect rather than treating simulations as abstract models.Visual hierarchy for interpretation
Clear grouping, consistent patterns, and intentional use of hierarchy guide users toward what matters most, helping them interpret results with confidence.
Outcomes
The feature enabled users to analyze and simulate workloads more confidently and with less reliance on manual processes or external tools. It established a foundation for future capacity planning and optimization features and strengthened the platform’s value for enterprise-scale use cases.
Within the first week of release, users ran hundreds of simulations, signaling strong adoption and clear value in the planning workflow.
Manual planning steps dropped by 81% percent after adoption.
User confidence in planning decisions increased, measured through internal feedback and usability sessions.
Reflection
Designing for complex systems requires restraint as much as creativity
Progressive disclosure is essential when users are making high-stakes decisions
Close collaboration with engineering leads to more realistic and durable solutions